Tag: Virgin Media

They use the courier Nightline for their deliveries, which on the face of it is a good idea, because Nightline have an advantage over other courier services. They have the Parcel Motel network of storage lockers, so if you’re not at home to receive your parcel, it can be held in a locker to be picked up at your convenience.

My order with Virgin Media went through at 10.00am on Friday, but for some reason Virgin didn’t dispatch my equipment until the following Monday evening.

An email I received from Nightline said that I could track my order online, or redirect the parcel elsewhere if I wan’t going to be in to accept the delivery. So on the Monday evening I tried the redirection process to send it straight to my local Parcel Motel, but every time submitted the request I kept getting an error in Nightline’s Parcel Pilot system. After a few attempts I abandoned it.

I tried again on the Tuesday morning to redirect to Parcel Motel, and it actually worked, and was recorded as a “Motel Redirect” in the tracking system. Unfortunately Nightline didn’t check their own records because they still took it out in their van to deliver to my home. It subsequently got returned to the depot, and the tracking system now says “Nightline delay, due next business day”.

So much for Virgin’s promise to have the equipment in my hands within 2 days!

Update

So having asked to redirect to Parcel Motel, I received an second email from Nightline on the Wednesday saying it would be delivered to my Parcel Motel locker (they even listed the address of the locker location) between 2.00pm and 4.00pm.

I checked the Nightline tracking, and it said that the parcel was delivered at 3.30pm. However by 5.30pm I still hadn’t heard from Parcel Motel about how to collect the parcel (I need a PIN to access the locker).

So I called Nightline (018835400), and they said they couldn’t help and said I needed to call Parcel Motel on a different number (0768886677).

I called Parcel Motel, and kept getting cut off. It seems that unless your call gets picked up within about 20 seconds then you get a message saying “no agents available” and the call is dropped. Anyway, I eventually spoke to a person on the 5th attempt at calling, and they confirmed to me that it wasn’t actually delivered to Parcel Motel at all. The online tracker was wrong.

It seems that Nightline ignored the redirection request (for a second time) and actually delivered themselves to my neighbour.

With UPC confirming recently that it is to re-brand to Virgin Media over the next few months, it will be interesting to see if they also introduce one of Virgin’s products to Ireland – the TiVo.

TiVo Series 1

I had one of the original TiVo Series 1 boxes that was on sale for a couple of years in the UK from 2000 onwards. It was an amazing PVR and was much better than anything that Sky or the cable companies offered at the time.

It recorded shows from compatible set-top boxes, and learned the type of TV you liked to watch, and would pro-actively record programmes it thought you might like. The on-screen interface and remote were also intuitive and easy to use.

There was a small but active TiVo Series 1 community in the UK at the time, which included people who modified and upgraded their machines to increase the functionality offered. I upgraded my box to increase the record time from 40 hours to 250 hours, and to also install a network card to allow software/EPG updates over broadband. I also installed all kinds of software plugins, including one that allowed me to remote control the box over the internet – including setting programmes to record – something that, 15 years later, we all take for granted.

I loved that TiVo. Indeed, I was so attached to my TiVo that, when I moved to Ireland in 2007, I still kept it for a number of years – even though it didn’t work abroad!

Virgin TiVo

In 2010 Virgin Media in the UK announced that they were offering TiVos to their customers as one of their set-top box options, and today they offer two TiVo options for TV subscribers – a 500GB box and a 1TB box. Today’s TiVos are much more advanced that the old Series 1 that I had, and integrate the cable receiver into the box – allowing customers to record two channels while watching a third.

It would be pretty amazing if, as part of the Virgin Media re-brand, that TiVos were also brought to Ireland. They would be a very welcome replacement to the existing Horizon boxes offered by UPC, which have some known problems.

About this site

This is a personal blog written by Richard Bloomfield who lives in Dublin, Ireland. I write about stuff that interests me – technology, singing, cycling, and a myriad of other topics.

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